After finishing their meals, the students of Class A returned to the lecture hall for the second session of Elementary Black Magic.
"…What? The results are out already?"
The moment they stepped inside, chaos erupted.
On one side of the wall, the test results for every single Class A student had already been posted.
"Wow! That was fast!"
"Hey, move over!"
"Let me see!"
Rumble!
Bags were tossed aside as soon as the students entered. In an instant, they rushed toward the wall.
Not only their own scores—but everyone else's—were displayed openly for all to see.
"Kyaaa! 85 in Katarology!"
"Ugh, Haemotology completely tanked my average…"
"Should I seriously consider switching majors?"
"See? Didn't I tell you to choose number five in Magical Combat?"
"You're such a liar! You cried about failing Katarology, and you still got an eighty?!"
The classroom sounded more like a bustling marketplace than a lecture hall.
Once the results were out, Class A descended into complete chaos.
Some students wore dark expressions.
Others stood tall with pride.
A few were busy cursing friends who had claimed they didn't study at all—only to score higher than expected.
Amidst the noise, Knox calmly walked over to the wall.
He found his name. And smiled.
[Knox Aznable]
Katarology: 100
Darkness Dynamics: 100
Summonology: 100
Necromancy (Spirit): 100
Haemotology: 100
Toxicology: 100
Magical Combat: 100
Defense Against Holy Arts: 100
"Hm," Knox said lightly. "Not bad~"
Rick, who had heard those two deadly words, hurried over.
"Not bad?" he repeated.
Then he found Knox's name.
His eyes went wide.
"WHAT?!" Rick shouted. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! ALL ONE HUNDRED?! A PERFECT SCORE?!"
His voice was so loud it might as well have come from a megaphone.
The entire classroom—including Jane and the assistant professors—turned to look.
When Jane saw the source of the commotion, she merely smiled faintly, as if to say:
Hmph. As expected.
The assistant professors, on the other hand, could only smile helplessly. They had reacted exactly like Rick when they first saw Knox's results.
The students, however—
They were stunned to the point of questioning reality itself.
"A perfect score?!"
"Where?!"
"…Knox Aznable."
"Is that even possible?!"
The uproar intensified.
Hector, watching from afar, clenched his teeth so hard it looked like they might crack.
Meilyn stared at the board in silence—her gaze a complicated mix of awe, disbelief, frustration, and rising fighting spirit.
As for the so-called F4—the girls' version—
Jamie adjusted her glasses, eyes sharp with renewed interest and awed.
Claudia smiled wryly, as if she had expected nothing less
Cindy gaped openly, brain clearly overloaded.
Merida… continued sleeping, completely oblivious to the chaos she was technically part of.
Knox looked at Rick and tilted his head. "Hm? Why are you reacting like that?"
Rick's eyebrows twitched. He could only stare at Knox, his expression clearly screaming, Are you serious right now?
Seeing Knox's completely sincere—and somehow not smug at all—expression, Rick gave up. To cleanse his eyes, he turned away and spotted Simon nearby.
"Simon! Simon!" Rick called out. "How'd you do on the test?"
Simon, who was still dazed from Knox's inhuman scores, snapped back to reality.
"…Seventy-six in Summonology," he replied. "The rest were… pretty bad."
"Hm? Seventy-six?"
Knox suddenly appeared beside him and lightly tapped Simon on the shoulder.
"That's not bad at all," Knox said with a gentle smile. "For someone who didn't study, that's way better than expected."
He continued casually, without a trace of ridicule. "Honestly, it's much better to be really good at one subject than just average at everything. It shows where your interest and talent lie."
Simon could only smile helplessly at the genius standing next to him.
What on earth does this guy eat to get a brain like that…?
Then Simon remembered the sheer amount of food Knox consumed on a daily basis.
…Maybe eating more really does make you smarter?
Shaking himself out of that dangerous line of thought, Simon turned to Rick.
"How about you?"
Rick shrugged. "My best was Darkness Dynamics—seventy-four. The rest are all in the sixties to seventies. My average should land around seventy."
He sighed, but there was a hint of relief in his expression. At least he hadn't completely bombed.
Simon blinked. "…You're smart too, huh."
Rick shrugged. "I just studied enough not to get kicked out. That's all."
Despite the casual words, his expression stiffened slightly.
"That said," Knox cut in calmly, "this is a development we didn't expect."
He glanced at the board. "With everyone's scores revealed right away, your original plan might go awry, Simon, Rick."
Rick's plan had been simple: recruit strong teammates quickly, before anyone had enough information to judge others properly.
But now?
With grades laid bare for everyone to see, students would start choosing teammates based on visible, undeniable performance.
"Uh—um—everyone!"
The classroom, already on the brink of chaos, paid no attention. A female assistant instructor tried desperately to restore order.
"Please return to your seats! The professor will be arriving soon—!"
"Leave them be."
Clack.
The classroom door opened.
Jane stepped inside. The noise died instantly.
Although the students fell silent, their eyes inevitably drifted back to the board displaying the results.
"I'll give you thirty minutes," Jane said, placing her bag on the lectern.
"Check your scores and form groups of four. Unless there are special circumstances, your group will remain unchanged for the entire semester."
The expressions of Class A stiffened.
Right now?
"From this point onward," Jane continued, "Elementary Black Magic will proceed as a group-based class. You will receive assignments that cannot be solved alone."
She adjusted her necktie slightly.
"Individual and group grades will be calculated separately. Even if you excel individually, a lack of cooperation within your group will result in point deductions."
Then—just faintly—she smiled. "So," she said, "choose your teammates wisely."
At that single sentence, something flipped in every student's mind.
"You have thirty minutes," Jane concluded. "If you fail to form a group, you will be lumped together with the remaining stragglers and assigned to a separate group. Begin."
The dam broke.
"Jasmine! Who's Jasmine?!"
"That's me!"
"Your Katarology score was high—want to team up? We're aiming for Darkness and Necromancy!"
"Looking for three members! Katarology, Darkness, Summonology majors only! Sixty and above!"
"Any top scorers in Necromancy still free?!"
The scramble became instantly fierce.
Simon and Rick exchanged a quick nod before splitting up to act independently.
Knox, meanwhile, remained where he was. Relaxed.
Unlike the others, he already had a group. No pressure to recruit. No need to fend off eager invitations.
He simply observed.
Honestly, Knox was very familiar with situations like this. Group projects always ended in one of two ways:
Either the group worked well together and produced solid results—
Or, for any number of reasons, it slowly collapsed from within. Self-destruction was always an option.
And watching it unfold?
That part never got old.